Everyone Has A Shadow
by FlyinLove
Summary: How did Zed become the warped, twisted, and dark shadow of a man he is now? What caused him to give up his freedom, his heart, and ultimately his soul to be the cruel and cold assassin he is now? Rated T for violence. Please review and provide feedback, it's my first fanfic :D thanks
1. Balance Shifts

**_Everyone Has A Shadow_**

_Ionian legend stretches unfathomably long over history, its tales ranging far and wide. But none are more famous than the tale of the drunken beggar, his beautiful lover, and their acts of valor, ultimately spiraling downward to an unthinkable betrayal._

_Each hundredth year, tradition deemed the Ionian elders to pay a visit to his tomb. The tomb of Hai'Ming, the long deceased hermit, known for his legendary prowess in drinking, in what was perhaps Ionia's saddest yet sweetest love story. _

_There is little known about his lover. It was said upon one of Hai'Ming's drunken stupors, she saw him as the poor beggar that he was, and took him in. Falling in that peculiar way lovers tend to, she discovered the secret to eternal life with him. It was her, who found out that the key ingredient was not gold, but lead. It was her, who could put up with his lunatic ravings, his mood swings, his drunken stupors._

_It was her, according to legend who drove a knife through his heart, killing Hai'Ming. She cursed him, to never truly die, to endow the generations to come with his insane ranting. Be it blessing or curse, only one thing was for sure. Each word, each bloodstained letter, spoke nothing but truth. The Rune wars, the Noxian invasion, even the origin of the Shadow Isles were all revealed with an accuracy none would associate with a drunken beggar. These centennial prophecies were always uttered in a cryptic, poetic prose that displayed the madness, the tragedy, mirroring Hai'Ming's life and the inevitability of prophecy._

_It was said he died laughing._

It was time.

Time for revelation

The Ionian elders solemnly began the centennial ritual, swore their

Oaths.

Order.

Balance.

Life.

Death.

All precariously rested upon the dead rantings of a mad hermit.

The red mist slowly rose from the coffin, and all eyes uncertainly rose to meet it.

Hssss…Like a venomous adder, the sound was not a comforting one, adding sheer danger and malice to the air.

The Eye of Twilight nodded. It was time.

_Shen, please…come to no harm._

The coffin slowly slid open. A weathered scroll, sealed with blood, lay in the weathered corpse's hands. The ghastly, worn, skull came into vision...with the grating sound one associates with nightmares, insanity and fear, it laughed.

I was a horrific sound, a sound of

Madness.

Knowledge.

Love.

Betrayal.

Legend forswore that upon hearing Hai'Ming's laughter, one would be changed forever. Legend failed to mention how.

As the young Eye of Twilight thought about his wife and his son Shen, he tried to relate to this husk of a once great man. A man who was betrayed by the one he loved most, the only he trusted. And he learned two things.

Ionian legend was right. He prayed to every god he knew for Shen's safety.

And he learned that there was no turning back.

Betraying the collective anticipation, tension, and fear, a sigh rose around the ring of elders.

Hai'Ming would speak.

And they would listen.

They bowed their heads in silence.

Only to have it shattered by pounding on the tomb door.

"Help!" "Please" "My son…"

The Elder's stiffened. Despite the clear desperation ringing in the voice, the importance of this ritual overrode all of it.

The voice faded slowly, diminishing in an ominous way.

The ceremony would continue. Hai'Ming's hellish laugh increased in volume, it's devilish cadence chilling even the hardiest man's heart to ice.

A mask of impassivity became increasingly harder to manage as the Eye of Twilight beheld the laughter.

_This is what you were meant to do. _

Cold sweat broke out beneath his mask.

_Think about Shen. _

"HELP!" The cries became frantic, pleading, heartrending.

Blood began to bubble forth from Hai'Ming's still cackling maw, and with it the beginning traces of a scroll.

_Shen. Ionia. Balance _

"PLEASE I'VE COME TO RETURN THE BEGGAR'S FRUIT!" "LET ME IN!"

The circle of elders froze.

Hai'Ming's son, whom he himself did not know of before he died, was part of his requests in his last prophecy. He asked for his son to be returned to his tomb. He asked for Ionian elders to observe this ceremony every 100 years.

"IT'S HIS SON PLEA-"

A flash and ring of steel.

A guttural cry of pain.

All too much for the Eye of Twilight. Eyes narrowed in determination, sweat running freely down his body, he threatened to break the very balance he swore to uphold. He made a decision.

One that would later cost his life and honor.

Hai'Ming's laughter became a piercing shrill, and his bones began to rise, slowly swaying to some unholy rhythm. An entire half of the scroll, Ionia's future and fate, rose out of his oscillating hands.

_Dear hermit, I'm sorry._

With a well executed Ki burst, the Eye of Twilight ended centuries of tradition.

The tomb door collapsed, and Ionia's balance with it.


	2. Newfound Surprise

_**Chapter 2: Newfound Surprise**_

Dust and stone rained the gaping hole The Eye of Twilight had created. Before him, his glistening eyes beheld one of the most hideous sights he'd ever seen.

A disgusting, almost unrecognizable outline for a man lay spread-eagled before him, eviscerated and disemboweled, blood and organs spilling around a morbid radius, soiling the tomb's entrance.

_Who did this!?_

Despite his training, The Eye of Twilight fought hard to stifle a gag.

_This is an abomination._

Suddenly, the bloody mass moved. Instantly, everyone took up defensive positions.

Tentatively, the glob of gore twitched.

Unthinkably, out of the dead man's ugly stomach, sprang a pale form.

The Eye of Twilight's eyes blinked in surprise and relief.

_A baby…? Could it be? Hai'Ming's son?_

Standing amidst the blood and gore, the infant stoically held his gaze.

"Ryoko, take him in" said Irelia, who seemed to be the only one who had recovered from this insane sequence of events.

Nodding in approval and respect, the Eye of Twilight always thought Irelia possessed an inner steel few others did, despite her obvious youth and vitality.

Lifting the child, careful not to disturb the mess, Ryoko brought him before the corpse of his father.

The Ionian elders were silent, words stolen by the abrupt turn of occurrences.

The cackling mass of bones in front this baby yet still rose in the air, unperturbed.

Strangely, the newborn calmly stared at the levitating, laughing skeleton, and did not cry.

From Hai'Ming's arms slid the scroll all of Ionia had been anticipating. It was wrinkled, massive, and wrapped with a bloody rag.

Looming over the still impassive child, The Eye of Twilight saw a sight that chilled him to the bone.

For a second, the child, innocent and pure, fresh into this world, cast a shadow, by some hellish work of light, that resembled an armored ninja, clad in full battle regalia.

Where normal eyes should have been, the shadow had two glowing, red orbs of malevolence.

And as soon as the ghastly sight appeared, it went away, like a cheap illusionist's smoke and mirror trick.

It took all of Ryoko's willpower to stay impassive.

_Did I really just see that?_

The tiny infant stood, and with an uncanny display of strength, bore the scroll in his tiny arms. He presented the scroll to Ryoko.

Perhaps this tomb's occupant's insanity is rubbing off, thought The Eye of Twilight as he took the scroll. Unraveling the fragile parchment, the Ryoko read the contents in his clear strong voice.

_"Balance is maintained, The Triumvirate Watchful._

_Yet the divine farmer shall prune and reap._

_three new members there will be."_

At this, the council of elders gasped. The deaths of Ryoko, The Fist of Shadow, and the Heart of the Tempest, being so blatantly foretold, spoke of times filled with hardship and strife for Ionia.

Stoically unhindered, Ryoko continued to read,

_"Twilight, Tempest, and Shadow_

_Shifting straight from high to low_

_Fruit of dusk, fruit of mine_

_Shall become a trio just in time_

_Yet deserting the post deemed watchful_

_All of Ionia shall mourn_

_Heading to a new dawn."_

Ryoko concluded his reading, basking in the atmosphere of mourning and danger in the ringing silence that the words of Hai'Ming had induced. The Eye of Twilight cleared his throat.

"Let's go back to the Placidum"

Newly burdened by a scroll and a baby, The Eye of Twilight turned towards his destination, and the rest of the Ionian elders followed.

Unknown to the Ionians, a dark, amorphous mass materialized and watched. Laughing, it proclaimed in a raspy, resonating, voice

"Darkness has come forth"

Always being a harbinger for the beginning of a time of evil, quickly as it had appeared, it was child's fate would be decided back at the Placidum. Yet something about bringing this infant to the heart of Ionia made Ryoko uneasy.

Still cradled in The Eye of Twilight's arms, the baby smiled, his first display of expression in this world.

Despite the way his face lit up, with his cheeks cutely upturned, Ryoko felt a chill unconsciously make its way down his back.

Shuddering, he looked at the seemingly innocent child.

_Who are you really?_


	3. Judgement

_**Chapter 3: Judgement**_

"Greetings Ryoko". The guard bowed low in respect.

"Greetings," the Eye of Twilight acknowledged with a nod.

Nervously, the guard looked around, and said in a low tone,

"Did the prophecy bode well?"

Ryoko's stony eyes calmly regarded the man and betrayed nothing.

"Time will tell"

The guard sighed uneasily. Not expecting a response, it didn't hurt to ask. After all, who was he to question one of members of the Kinkou Order's sacred triumvirate? Especially on such a significant matter. He obediently opened the gate for Ionia's most respected individuals.

"Thank you", Ryoko bowed with gratitude, and the elders followed him into the inner sanctum of the Placidum, the heart of Ionia.

Looking down at the seemingly innocent child whose fate would be determined in the hours to come, Ryoko took his seat.

The Eye of Twilight and Akasou, the Fist of Shadow, sat at the head of the council. The Eye of the Tempest was away on a mission, thus leaving normally occupied seat vacant between Ryoko and Akasou. The rest of the elders filed in order by rank and seniority, except for one young exception. Irelia boldly strove forward to secure a seat at the front, an action which, the Eye of Twilight noted drily, induced many hateful scowls and murmurs of outrage from the Ionian elders. Irelia's brazen attitude, an obvious byproduct of her youth, never failed to amuse Ryoko. All too often, it painfully reminded Ryoko of his own age. Youthful grace and impulsive impatience were only present in The Eye of Twilight's memory now. Ryoko sighed softly.

A wry smile stole across Akasou's thinly pursed lips

"Irelia is quite full of youthful foolishness, is she not?"

Ryoko acknowledged Akasou's adept reading of his thoughts with a smile of his own

"Foolishness in youth progresses to wisdom with age."

With a few breathing exercises, The Eye of Twilight calmed himself and brought a steel back into his eye, a steel he would need for the hours to come. With yet another sigh, he dove into the issue at hand:This child's fate.

Like all decisions made within the Placidum, it was long, drawn out, and assured Ryoko of the Eye of the Tempest's luck of being away on a mission. Tables were banged by fists belonging to enraged elders raucously proclaiming their opinion to be superior to others. Above this discordant cacophony, one voice cut through the air. As usual, Irelia unconsciously played devil's advocate, attacking from all angles and often contradicting herself in a hotheaded, bizarre fashion, that normally did nothing to hasten a decision. Ryoko decided her rants were now beyond tolerable, and stood up.

All conversation slowly stopped, like a wind fading away after a storm. Everyone's eyes rested on Ryoko. Clearing his throat, The Eye of Twilight delivered his verdict.

"After listening to all opinions on this matter, I have made my decision accordingly"

This drew a few snickers that were quickly stifled. Eye of of Twilights reputation for making decisions on his own was exceeded only by his skill in martial arts.

"We will keep the child, and allow him to join the ranks of our Dai'nin, our ninja, as he comes of age."

Ryoko swept the council with his unwavering, stony gaze, daring anyone to speak out. Surprisingly, none did.

"As of now, he will be kept in the orphanage until that time."

The Eye of Twilight sat down, and immediately the elders burst into argument. Ryoko looked to his right. Akasou was already gone. Following her example, he quickly left the room and with a few quick bounds, leapt to the roof. Closing his eyes, The Eye of Twilight prepared himself for a period of relaxation and self reflection beneath the calm blue sky.

"Why did you let him stay after what you saw" ,a voice burst out from behind him.

Slowly opening his eyes and not betraying his startled annoyance, Ryoko turned around. When he recognized the owner of the voice, he bowed in acknowledgment.

"Irelia" ,he said simply.

"Did you see what happened with the child…" ,Irelia's voice trailed off.

The Eye of Twilight titled his head, meaning for her to go on.

"For a second, I thought I saw...a weird shadow" ,uncertainty racked her normally confident tone.

Ryoko gave no indication of the chill that ran down his spine.

_She saw it too...so it really happened?_

"Yes Irelia, I saw it too" The Eye of Twilight monotoned. Curiosity and trepidation did not rest easy with the Eye of Twilight's stomach.

_Why did only Irelia and I notice? _

"Then why did you let him stay?" Irelia's voice was frantic.

"Everyone has a shadow, Irelia. Let time tell of its owner's worth." Ryoko said, and as a means of farewell, jumped to the next rooftop. Irelia watched him go, flitting about like a grasshopper.

_I'm going to keep an eye on this kid, something about him makes me...nervous,_ Irelia thought.

A few rooftops away, Ryoko was thinking the exact same thing.


	4. Evil Has No Face

_**Chapter 4: Evil Has No Face**_

_The silent child was sent to the orphanage to live until he was old enough to join the ninja school. The woman in charge of the orphanage knew there was something wrong with the child the moment he was brought through the door…_

_She was tending to the sleeping children. Rain softly pit-patted against the window. A child was stirring, and kicked off his blanket. Wrinkles aligning on her face, the caretaker smiled and gently readjusted the child's covers. With a loud crash, thunder boomed through the night. Glancing around to make sure none of the children were woken by the storm, softly she closed the door. The bamboo slid in place with but a small creak, barely audible over the din caused by the storm. Then, she heard something. A gentle knocking, a rhythmic tapping she could discern above the sound of the rain. Leisurely striding to open the bamboo door, she knew who it was even before she got there._

"_Ryoko, welcome back," she said, with her signature warm and wrinkly smile._

_The venerable ninja deeply bowed in respect to the woman who had helped raise him many years ago. The Eye of Twilight was also an orphan._

"_Greetings" he said solemnly. _

"_Do you wish to come in?" the caretaker asked kindly. "I can make some tea."_

"_As much as I want to, I cannot." The Eye of Twilight could not contain his smile. Fond memories of the delicious tea the Caretaker made surfaced to the forefront of his mind._

"_Too caught up in the workings of Ionia, I suppose?" The cheerful, maternal glint was never absent from the Caretaker's smile._

_Bowing once again, even deeper, Ryoko spoke his mind. Holding the baby forward, he said_

"_I ask for a favor."_

_Nodding, and smiling, the Caretaker took the child in her arms. She looked up to wish The Eye of Twilight thanks, but he was already gone, lost in that rainy night. Looking at the child's face, a chill ran down her back. Her smile faded for a moment. _

_In stark contrast to the dark, gloomy, rainy day, the baby's eyes seemed to glow, a sinister shade of red. And as soon as it came, it was gone. Unsure of what she saw, she never forgot the incident._

_Not even ten years later…_

The picturesque sunrise blended with the singing of the birds into a symphony of sound and color. Rousing the children with taps and shouts, the Caretaker watched the children as they groggily stood up and rubbed their eyes. Some blinked, pupils still slowly adjusting to the light.

The silent child quietly yawned, and surveyed his surroundings with his calm stare.

"I'm going to the market, and buy some food for today's lunch. No mischief while I'm gone!" the Caretaker said, aiming a direct stare at the troublemakers.

As soon as she walked out the door, everybody seemed to be energetic. Excited. A raw buzz of energy permeated the air of the orphanage. The other children were frolicking, engaged in mock combat with sticks of bamboo. With the Caretaker gone, they decided to have some fun. The quiet boy watched them play and spar, gaze unblinking, flat, unwavering. Click, Clack, Click. Relentlessly, the kids battered at each other with raw energy and little else, evidently lacking coordination and skill.

Done, and laughing, they collapsed on the ground, exhausted. That's when they noticed him staring... the other children were always uneasy around the quiet boy. Never did he smile or have a change in emotion. Often, the bolder children would shout insults or tease him, only to find their taunts falling upon deaf ears.

It became a contest to see who could provoke a reaction from the boy. Such a contest always lacked a winner.

The quiet boy saw the children whispering, muttering amongst each other while frantically gesticulating at him. They all rose, and strode towards the boy, bamboo sticks brandished, threat evident in their every step.

Concealed in the shade of a tree, Ryoko watched the festivities through the window.

One of the bigger boys swaggered towards the quiet child, and clumsily swung the bamboo stick at his head. Staring, straight faced, the quiet child did not move until the last moment. Quick as a bird, he gracefully danced to the side, sidestepping the poorly executed blow.

Clumsily, the bigger boy, falling forward, carried by the weight of his foolish blow, was surprise to find he hit nothing but thin air. His expression of surprise was quickly replaced by one of pain.

_Snap! _The child, no longer able to hold his bamboo stick with his now broken arm, collapsed to the ground sobbing. The quiet boy simply stood, and looked at the child writhing on the floor. Calmly, he bent down, and looked into the whimpering, injured, boy's eyes. Sobbing, he attempted to turn his head away.

Suddenly, the quiet child violently slammed his face into the bamboo floor, leaving a dent. Both on the floor and his now broken nose. Crying loudly, all he could do was shout "Stop! Stop! No!"

Red flashed quickly in the pupils of the quiet boy, for less than a second, in and out.

A rare expression of irritation danced across the quiet child's face. He hated the way this boy threatened him without skill, and the childish, loud way he screamed. Like a little girl. Not worthy of his attention. Grabbing the sobbing boy's other arm, he cold-bloodedly bent it back without haste until he heard it snap. The poor boy's screams intensified, sealing his doom.

The quiet boy hit him.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Eventually, broken and bleeding, the battered boy finally lost the strength to scream and cry, only able to sob softly. Finished, the quiet child got up, and walked away.

When the Caretaker came back and saw the badly hurt boy, and the traumatized faces of his friends, she screamed. Quickly assessing the child's wounds, she grimly became aware of the fact that his arms would probably be permanently disfigured. Strangely, while tending to the injured child, she remembered that stormy night 10 years ago. Chills once again creeped down her back, and subconsciously remembered the sinister red glare of the child's eyes. Looking over the shoulder, she flinched.

Calmly, without batting an eye, the child stared back, and his pupils flickered red.

Ryoko's swift and deft departure masked the fear he felt. Leaping from tree to tree, he struggled for the first time in many years to keep himself calm.


End file.
